Elon Musk says he’s buying Twitter to ‘help humanity’ and not to ‘make more money’
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Elon Musk has said he is buying Twitter to “try to help humanity”.
The billionaire tweeted a statement explaining his reasons for purchasing the social media site, saying he believed it was “important for the future of civilisation to have a common digital town square”.
Mr Musk’s long -running bid to purchase Twitter is reportedly in its final stages.
Yesterday the tycoon arrived at the company headquarters in San Francisco carrying a sink and changed his bio on the site to “Chief Twit”.
In the statement, he said most of the speculation around his motivation for acquiring the US tech company has been “wrong” and that he feared social media splintering into “far right-wing and far left-wing echo chambers”.
He said: “In the relentless pursuit of clicks, much of traditional media has fuelled and catered to those polarised extremes, as they believe this is what brings in money, but, in doing so, the opportunity for dialogue is lost.
“That is why I bought Twitter, I didn’t do it because it would be easy, I didn’t do it to make more money.
I did it to try and help humanity, whom I love. And I do so with humility, recognising that failure in pursuing this goal, despite our best efforts, is a very real possibility.”
In an effort to reassure advertisers, the Tesla owner went on to say that Twitter could not become a “free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said without consequences”, adding that he wanted to ensure users could tailor their experience of the site according to their preferences in the future.
The electric car and space travel entrepreneur has promised $46.5bn (£40.15bn) in equity and debt financing to take over Twitter, covering the $44bn (£37.96bn) asking price and closing costs.
Morgan Stanley and Bank of America as well as equity investors including American businessman Larry Ellison and Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia are also contributing to the deal.
Elon Musk’s Twitter deal – what’s going on, how did we get here and what happens next?
The somewhat bumpy takeover has been rumbling on since April when Musk first offered to buy the company, after expressing concerns over Twitter’s commitment to free speech.
On 4 October he said he would proceed with the full offer he made six months ago ahead of legal action Twitter was threatening to bring against him for trying to back out of the deal.
He had previously argued Twitter had not been straightforward about what he said was the company’s problem with fake accounts he dubbed “spam bots”.
